The Photon operating system must configure sshd to perform strict mode checking of home directory configuration files.

If other users have access to modify user-specific Secure Shell (SSH) configuration files, they may be able to log on to the system as another user.

At the command line, run the following command:

# sshd -T|&grep -i StrictModes

Expected result:

StrictModes yes

If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Navigate to and open:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

Ensure the "StrictModes" line is uncommented and set to the following:

StrictModes yes

At the command line, run the following command:

# systemctl restart sshd.service